Snowbound

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Loery Katz

"I can swear to you I never sent that text" Parker mumbled "I don't remember that video either but to be fair I was blackout drunk. Are you sure? I mean I spent that entire morning calling and texting you"

"I wish I could show you but my phone is y'know" I shrugged. "Look it really doesn't make sense to me either."

"It doesn't make sense at all" he groaned, clearly frustrated. "I mean how does that even happen?"

"Well see our stories match to some extent. I didn't show up for the wedding, we didn't talk or see each other the whole day, and my mom believed I was at Mikes's, which was the lie I told her. Oh also you were at the party"

Parker nodded. "Ok and the parts that don't match up are we both called and texted each other the whole day but none of us received anything, and I never texted you the night before the wedding"

"Do you remember what happened that night? Before the wedding?" I asked looking over at him.

"When we got back from the wedding rehearsal I was so tired and angry I just stormed up to my room and went to sleep, I got up the next morning and my phone was still in the car where I left it" Parker sighed. "It's like a dead end"

"Well clearly someone messed with something, and it wasn't either of us" I muttered. "But I think we've both had enough reminiscing on our past drama for today so how about we just end there on this topic for today"

"Yea but we're definitely coming back to this because if someone did this I want to know who and why," Parker said. 

If I'm being honest I had a few ideas but I know accusing his new friends could backtrack all the progress we made. I still don't know what I can and can't do without our already fragile relationship breaking even more.

 "I mean I spent all this time hating you because you weren't there, but I wasn't there for you either"

"I did the same," I said leaning back on the bed. "I hated you because you'd changed, and I just didn't know how to handle it. Y'know?" I said looking down at my feet. "I mean, you were my nerdy best friend who got excited when he won a spelling bee or saw a cool bug and ranted about books for hours. Then all of a sudden you were partying and wearing designer clothes and hanging out with those rich kids we swore we'd never be like. You even go by a name you hate. I just felt like my best friend had been replaced by someone new and I hated it because that meant I was forgotten as well"

"I think I get it" Parker sighed and fell back, looking up at the ceiling. "I started out hating you for that night, but as that faded I found more reasons to hate you. I hated you because you were truly happy with a good friend group and I was stuck pretending I was happy. I hated you because you could always be you without worrying about what everyone thinks. I hated you because when you came out everyone supported you and-"

"Hold on-" I interpreted as I leaned on elbows on the bed, looking down at him "You came out? When?"

"I'm not out to everyone, but I came out as gay to my so-called family right before we left for this trip. I couldn't hold it in anymore and I thought. What's the worst that could happen?" He chuckled humourlessly. "Turns out my mom's husband and his son could turn out to be homophobic. My mom is too much of a suck-up to stand up for me. Oh and Laila completely fetishizes gay relationships and wants me to be her new gay bff"

"Well, shit" I mumbled. "I mean the gay bff thing goes away once you say no to every girl in the school who doesn't know the difference between gay and bi," I said in an attempt to lighten the mood.

He glanced up at me and smiled. "Yea it's pretty shit. We actually got in a fight about it at breakfast and I stormed out...ended up in the storm"

"Well, you know what I say? Screw homophobes, and suck-ups, and quirky girls who need a gay bff"

He let out a laughed and turned to face me. "Yea you know what? I agree, fuck them and all their possessions"

"Yes that's the spirit" I chuckled. "And fuck Mr. Ben"

"Yea fuck- wait the history teacher?" Parker asked sitting up.

"Yes the bitch failed me this semester, and now I got summer school," said trying to sound genuinely upset.

"Well in that case. Fuck Mr. Ben and the lunch lady who refused to give me an extra juice" We both laughed as we sat up on the edge of the bed. "Maybe getting stuck here with you wasn't the worst thing to happen"

Suddenly we were much closer than we had been originally. "Yea I guess not" I breathed out. His face was right there and all those flashing red lights I had in my head, and the voices screaming at me were ignored. All I'd said about our fragile relationship. Ignored it all and leaned in.

Parker didn't move away, he only stared at me. His lips slightly parted and I took the chance to lean all the way and kiss him.